A war film branded Clint Eastwood’s best work is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. Letters From Iwo Jima, released back in 2006, follows Japanese soldiers who fought during the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II – a major conflict that spanned five weeks, and tragically killed around 18,000 natives and nearly 7,000 Americans.
The movie acts as the perfect companion piece for Flags of Our Fathers, released in the same year and also directed by Eastwood, which depicts the very same battle but from the viewpoint of US soldiers. Japanese-language in nature, Letters From Iwo Jima boasts a truly star-studded cast, namely Ken Watanabe as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, as well as Kazunari Ninomiya and Tsuyoshi Ihara, among others.
It debuted to tremendous critical acclaim and was even nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Eastwood.
Though the wartime feature only walked away with just the one gong, for Best Sound Editing, it doesn’t mean the 2hr 21min spectacular isn’t highly-rated.
Letters from Iwo Jima holds an impressive standing on Rotten Tomatoes. A whopping 91% critic score, consisting of 201 reviews, and 86% from the audience, with over 250,000 ratings given.
The synopsis reads: “When General Kuribayashi’s subordinates refuse to follow his commands to march towards the American military camp to attack them, Saigo, a young soldier, finds courage and strength to support him.”
One critic wrote: “Much as already been made about the pride and honor of the Japanese, but as a people they have rarely, if ever, been depicted as fully human characters in American war movies. It’s amazing to think what Clint Eastwood has done here.”
Another added: “Eastwood has made a film that is thoughtful, poignant, touching, and philosophical. It stands as one of the best works in his long, illustrious career.”
Viewers share these sentiments, with one review saying: “One of Clint Eastwood’s best films and best war films of the century so far,” while a second continued: “Arguably the greatest war movie you will ever see.”
It doesn’t end there, with a user posting: “An All Time Classic. The acting is phenomenal across the board with no soldiers story ever feeling generic or repetitive, and despite hardly any English spoken you are able to connect with each of them.”
Letters From Iwo Jima is available to purchase or rent from Amazon Prime Video right now. Click here for more details.